Cka Ka Qellue Reviews

Authentic indeed. Food was excellent. Service was great, always smiling and willing to please. Welcoming staff was hardworking. Place is nicely decorated, portraying well the Albanian culture. Go and enjoy it. Highly recommend.

One of the worst meals I’ve had in NYC. It started off with a very watered down martini (at $19!). Waiter wasn’t terribly friendly…seemed bored. My dish was pretty inedible. The piece of lamb in the dish was extremely fatty, and had an unpleasant aftertaste. My husband got a meat platter that was kind of dried out…no presentation either. Won’t be returning any time soon.

Atmospheric and cosy restaurant with outdoor seating too. First time eating Albanian food and we enjoyed it. Lovely service. Enjoyed the pepper dip with warm bread and the veal dumplings for starters. Meat balls and lamb with rice. The winning dish was Sheqerepare for dessert. Yum! On the expensive side for portion sizes but friendly service. If you want to try Albanian food in New York would recommend.

We chose this because it was open on a Monday evening. The food exceeded our expectations. We started with bread and roasted red pepper spread, and it set the tone for what was to come. I had the stuffed cabbage (Sarma) and my husband had veal meatballs in a yogurt sauce (Mantia). Outstanding. But we managed to find room for desserts! I had the Sheqerpare (almond pastry with lemon sugar syrup) and my husband had the Albanian trilece (a tres leches cake with a caramel topping). This is a meal we will remember!

Food was good, first time eating Albanian food and it was a nice change. We really enjoyed the fluffy bread, crepe, and the veal dumplings. It was a little expensive given the size of dishes, though. Servers were very warm and the whole experience felt very homey and authentic. However, the service was extremely slow. We ended up waiting 1 hour for our food and spent a lot more time here than we had originally anticipated.

Couldn’t wait to try it and we are absolutely not disappointed ! Great food, amazing place, and the waitress was an angel ! We missed good Balkan food and it was delicious. From starters to desert, we LOVED it ! Thanks to everyone there for making us feel at home!

Wonderful surprise in mid town nyc I was walking by and I’ve seen this beautiful spot and I decided to stop and the girl was so friendly and offering me information about the Albanian kitchen and I tried some food and I love that and I’m going back there again with my girlfriend .

Decided to try Abanian Cuisine as we like Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. The place is charming; the staff friendly and helpful, but the meat dishes inedible - overcooked and over salted. We started with appetizer samples: the bread was delicious - freshly baked and puffy - reminded me of Poori. The Pepper Dip a delicious tapenade; the sausage dip - basically a mild cheesy Bechamel sauce with a couple sausage bits. So the meal started off well. Then after an interminable wait, our 4 entrees (mixed grill, octopus, Tava Kosi & Fasul) were served. None of us could finish our dish - the meat was overcooked/oversalted; dried out to be moisture less and not enough of it. Tava Kosi was a small lamb knuckle with a minimal amount of meat left on it Fasul - the meat so salty, no-one would eat it Grilled Octopus - 2 thin 6" arms: burnt and rubbery - tasted sour Mixed grill - tiny finger sausages that would not cut with serrated knife, but ripped instead; that's how tough and dried out they were, and incredibly salty Maybe the chef was overwhelmed, but we won't be returning.

Was even better than expected! A friend recommended saying it was the best Albanian food anywhere. Our party of 5 tried so many items on the menu and it was all delicious! So much thought is put into each detail of the restaurant. From the moment you walk in the door you feel like you’re transported. The decor is beautiful, the music wonderful, and the food excellent! Even the kids were loving it! Especially the puffy bread straight from the oven. The sausage dip was yummy as were the pickle peppers (we ordered more to come with the meals!) and the lamb and veal were delicious! We tried every dessert and I thought the baklava was divine with an Algerian coffee that is a masterpiece in taste and presentation!

Beautiful ethnic décor, excellent service! The food was delicious and I will fondly remember sharing a birthday meal at this lovely restaurant!

The food was ok but the service was super aweful. Obviously the restaurant tried to make more revenue by squeenzing as more tables in a small room but that made evey guest feel crowded and uncomfortable. What made things worse was, the servers were not attentive to guests at all. They asked you several times whether food was ok but they never noticed that everyone's water needed to refill until we requested. I am not a fan of such fake oral kindness without real actions to serve. Due to the crowded seating, they needed to squeeze in and out to bring food or take out plates but they were not careful enough to hit and drop our personal stuff to the ground, after we already warned them from the beginning to be careful in this squeezing environment. And they didn't even apologize after dropping our clothes (they don't provide storage as we specifically asked after being seated) and personal stuff to the ground, which no server tried to clean in a snowy day (the ground was especially dirty after snow bc pepole went in and out leaving dirty snow water on the ground). After I expressed my dissatisfication of their service, guess what, they mandatorily charged us 18% service fees on our lunch bill and still brought out the normal tipping suggestion on our bill so they can double charge tips by chance for their bad service. What a worst manner! You should definitely avoid this restaurant if you want to stay happy for your day.

Avoid! I read somewhere that this is her favorite restaurant in NYC, and if that's true (highly doubtful), Dua Lipa must have a lot of time on her hands - or maybe the owners are just friends of hers that she stops in to say hello to. Hands down this was the worst dining experience we've had in the City since living here. The service was so glacially slow that it seemed willful, like, daring customers to care. With the exception of the little veal dumplings, and the bread, the food was bad - again, it was like they just didn't care (meats very dry, sauces kind of gross and with an unpleasant aftertaste). Fake smiles were produced at the end of the meal with the words "We hope to see you again." To quote Princess Anne's response when escaping a gunman who attempted to kidnap her out of the royal limousine in 1974, "Not bloody likely." It's rare for us not to order 2nd drinks, and coffee at the end of the meal, but we just wanted to be done and get out of there.

The dishes are exotic. Very well prepared and the wide gastronomic offer. The restaurant is very pleasant atmosphere.

This is an unique experience. I don't know where one can find an Albanian restaurant anywhere e else in the US. Very charming with folkloric decor. Welcoming service. Large menu with authentic dishes. We had good dinners and an excellent Kosovar wine. A lovely evening.

Two nearby but not visible additional interior dining spaces hide out. Don’t leave the sacred miniscule in front dining area. Why? You have secured an experienced/opportunity/special moment/precious space. You are seated amidst and viewing a plethora of legally required signs warning of different threats, fire…prohibitions, more. Brickish mini front space. Even the plates baring each appetizer approached the table’s space limits, as if to emulate their originator and leader, garrulously chatting parallel to our table. Ye immovable faced waitress stolidly tall and seemingly director of the order taking stands up while barely chatting with the minister of wine no more than 12 inches away from her locale. The immutable one resembles a stolid but spiritually designed immaculate meticulous “brick” essence, beauty to recall for eons, who rarely sideways eyes back at her viewers. Oh, yes, while gazing aloft at the darkly hued clothed one no more than three or four feet away, taste dips, be they pickled pepper, ajavar, et al, soothing bread, and beyond.

We recently went to Çka ka Qëllu, a rustic restaurant offering modern Albanian and Kosovan dishes. Once you step inside, you are transported to a warm, old-timey, authentic space. It is covered with wood and bricks, earthy tone that makes you think of grandparents’ or great parents’ home, maybe. There is a nice-size dining room at the front, and another dining room in the back. In between, there is a connecting space with a few more tables. For appetizer, we ordered some dips with bread and a salad. We want to try Mediterranean Salad or the Village Salad, but somehow, the server simply put in order for the Shop Salad… It seems like you need to demand what salad you want, otherwise, it might be selected for you??? Anyways, the Shop Salad was a really nice. For the dips, we got Tarator, Pickled Pepper, Sausage Dip, and Ajavar. The bread came piping hot! The inside was hallowed, made it easier to tear apart and dip into each dip. The creamy dips had more of a mild flavor, and the chilled ones had more distinctive, strong flavors. We enjoyed them all. For the main, we ordered Mixed Grill Platter to share. It comes with a combination of qebapa, qofte & sausage. They all had similar flavors, but all so tasty! Packed with flavors, so delicious. We ended our dinner with a dessert to share as well. We ordered Albanian Trilece. It was pretty darn good dessert! We had a nice dinner hear, certainly interesting. The service was not so warm, but our water was always filled, and we were well taken care of. A nice change from any other cuisine you find in the city.